A Few Blocks Away

Forever etched into my mind is a picture of a young man standing at the bus stop in the cold wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts.

I saw it early in the morning…right after I started volunteering at the Pirate Pantry.

I had become keenly aware of the unmet basic needs of kids going to school alongside my own boys. Sitting in the same classes with them. Playing on the same teams.

It kept me awake at night.

What really struck me was realizing that my boys each probably had two or three hoodies in their closets they hadn’t worn in two or three months.

They weren’t missing them.

They didn’t need them.

They may not have even remembered they were there.

And yet, just a few blocks away, another child was standing at a bus stop in the cold without one.

That image has stayed with me ever since.

It became one of the simplest explanations for why I care so deeply about the work we do at FOUND.

My boys had generous parents and grandparents who provided for them, and I was grateful for that. If they needed a coat, shoes, a backpack or school supplies, someone made sure they had them.

But I began to realize just how much usable, needed stuff was sitting untouched in homes all over our community while kids nearby were going without the basics.

The resources existed.

They were simply in the wrong place.

That realization changed the way I looked at everything.

I began to get loud about the needs around us. Telling anyone who would listen. As a girl raised on scripture and Jesus stories, I was taught we are “blessed to be a blessing.”

The process seemed simple to me.

Just tell the community what we need, and they’ll clean out their closets or pick up some extra deodorant the next time they’re at Walmart and we’ll make quite an impact on a kid who needs to know someone sees them.

So now we’re working with 175 people who serve kids. Most have 85+ in their “case load.” Each of those kids has a story, most have multiple siblings. I’ve been in a lot of their homes, and the way they live life every day is really hard to imagine for most of us.

That’s why a hoodie means so much.

A little snack bag that costs about $3 is priceless to so many kids.

So it really is simple. 
It’s also profound.

As I’m writing this, a man in our community just called and offered to donate about 30 really nice backpacks. We talked at length about how the need for backpacks (and everything else) doesn’t diminish as the school year passes…the needs get greater.

“It’s so much more than a backpack,” he said.

He’s right.

And a hoodie is never just a hoodie when you’re cold.

A snack is never just a snack when you’re hungry.

A pair of shoes is never just a pair of shoes when yours don’t fit.

And seeing a need is never just seeing it once you know you can do something about it.

Share what you have.

There are plenty of opportunities.

Sometimes they’re standing at the bus stop a few blocks away.